page_title: Los Angeles Kings
section_title: Playoff struggles (2014–present)
hierarchical_section_title: Los Angeles Kings / Franchise history / Playoff struggles (2014–present)
caption_attribution_description: Sharks @ Kings
context_page_description: The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. They compete in the National Hockey League as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The team was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The Kings played their home games at The Forum in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, for 32 years, until they moved to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles at the start of the 1999–2000 season.
  During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Kings had many years marked by impressive play in the regular season only to be washed out by early playoff exits. Their highlights in those years included the strong goaltending of Rogie Vachon, and the "Triple Crown Line" of Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor and Hall of Fame player Marcel Dionne, who had a famous upset of the uprising Edmonton Oilers in a 1982 playoff game known as the Miracle on Manchester.
context_section_description: Having won two Stanley Cup championships in the last three years, the Kings entered the 2014–15 season as the early favorites to retain their title. However, the Kings struggled often, with scoring slumps, defensemen losing games to injury and suspensions and frequent road losses. A defeat to the Calgary Flames in the penultimate game of the season eliminated the Kings from playoff contention, while qualifying Calgary, which coincidentally missed the postseason during the Kings' five-season playoff streak. Despite finishing with a record of 40–27–15, the Kings became the first defending Stanley Cup champion to miss the postseason since the 2006–07 Carolina Hurricanes and only the fourth overall since the 1967 NHL expansion season.
  At the start of the 2015–16 season. The Kings were expected to make the playoffs. They entered the playoffs as the fifth seed in their conference and second seed in their division. They faced the San Jose Sharks, but lost to them in five games. On June 16, 2016 the Kings named Anze Kopitar the 14th captain in team history, replacing Dustin Brown, who had led the team for the past eight seasons.
  The Kings celebrated their 50th anniversary during the 2016–17 season along with the other still active 1967 expansion teams (the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, and Pittsburgh Penguins), and for the first time since 2002, they hosted the NHL All-Star Game. Goaltender Jonathan Quick suffered an injury on opening night that sidelined him for most of the season, and the Kings struggled without him. Backup Peter Budaj filled the void, earning his first starting duties since his time with the Colorado Avalanche six years earlier, but near the trade deadline, the Kings traded him to Tampa Bay for another goalie, Ben Bishop who shared the crease with Jonathan Quick down the stretch, the superstar having returned from his injury. Despite the trade, the Kings ultimately missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons and, in the offseason, fired General manager Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter. Assistant general manager Rob Blake was promoted to be the new general manager and John Stevens took over as head coach after serving as associate head coach for the Kings for several seasons. In the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, the Vegas Golden Knights drafted defenseman Brayden McNabb, who had been left unprotected by the Kings. In the next season, the Kings clinched the playoffs as a wild card, but were swept by the expansion Golden Knights.
  On November 4, 2018, the Kings fired Stevens as head coach after the team started the 2018–19 season 4–8–1, and replaced him with Willie Desjardins. In Desjardins' debut on November 7, the Kings defeated the Ducks 4–1. The Kings finished the 2018-19 season in last place in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference with 71 points and they missed the playoffs for the third time in five seasons.
  The Kings hired Todd McLellan as their next head coach on April 16, 2019.  The 2019-20 season was highlighted by several rebuilding moves, as players such as Tanner Pearson, Derek Forbort and Alec Martinez were all traded away.  The team notably won the 2020 NHL Stadium Series in a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, which saw Tyler Toffoli score the league's first hat trick in an outdoor regular season game.  Toffoli was traded to the Vancouver Canucks two days after the feat.  In their later portion of the season, the Kings called up several prospects including Mikey Anderson and Gabe Vilardi, as the team went on a 7-game win streak, showcasing their deep and talented prospect pool.  This win streak, however, would mark the end of their season; the NHL would pause its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as part of their plan to return to play, the regular season was officially ended, and the Kings were one of seven teams left out of the playoffs. They were automatically entered into the first phase of the 2020 NHL Draft Lottery, in which the Kings received the second overall pick.
caption: A face-off between the Kings and the San Jose Sharks, during Game 5 of the first round in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs
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